Simple Man
by elegie787
Summary: Dean picks up his children from school, and enjoys a nice evening meal with his parents, wife, and children. Meanwhile Sam and Cas must figure out where the angels sent Dean. Set sometime around the end of 9.03. This chapter is mostly about Dean but the story will focus on all four characters.


It's 3pm. The Impala pulls up in front of Lebanon Middle School. Kids swarm around the car on the way to meet their parents. Dean imagines the children are shouting to each other but he can barely hear them over the sound of the Impala's engine humming. He knows he's going to get an earful about this when he gets back but he knows it'll be worth it.

The passenger door flies open snapping Dean out of his thoughts. Ben climbs into the front seat and the joy on his face confirms Dean's thoughts, "Yup definitely worth it".

"No way! You brought Baby today. Thanks Dad!" Ben shouts as he buckles himself in. Dean catches him making eye contact with his friends and giving them the "patented Winchester 'suck it' smirk" as Lisa always called it. As they drive away, Dean makes sure to rev the engine loud enough, adding an exclamation point to Ben's look.

Lebanon Elementary School was only about a mile away and Ben was grinning the entire way as he fished through a shoebox full of his father's cassette tapes. He finally settled on Lynyrd Skynyrd and fast forwarded to Simple Man. Father and son sing along loudly, windows rolled down as they waited in front of the school. The back door to the Impala swung open with a loud creak just as the chorus swelled. Dean and Ben turned to the back seat and sang very loudly, and very poorly, to Anna. "And be a simple kind of man!" Anna tightened her lips together and cocked her head to the side and rolled her eyes so fiercely it coaxed the men to turn down the stereo and stop singing, but not without exchanging a glance and giggling like children. Dean was always shocked by the level of sass Anna could exude when something didn't go her way, he never could place which side of the family it came from but it always stopped him in his tracks and made him smile. When the music died, in the kind of sing-song voice only a little girl can pull off, Anna said, "Mom's going to kill you when we get home".

Dean turned and winked at her, "Not if we get home first".

Ben reached for the door handle, "Just in case, I'm going to get in the back with Anna, Mom may make your death less slow and agonizing if she doesn't know I sat in the front seat."

While the boy was right Dean knew Ben enjoyed spending every moment he could with his younger sister, and while Anna always feigned embarrassment at this, Dean knew she loved him just as much. It was a source of arguments between Dean and Lisa at times.

_"I mean, is that, like _normal?"

_"Of course it is Dean especially at their age. Siblings always have some unspoken connection that outsiders can't begin to understand. That's how it was for me and my sister and we grew up just fine!" _

_"I just feel like they should spend _some_ time apart. They should make other friends. You know be normal children."_

_"They are normal children Dean. I wouldn't expect you to understand". _

Those conversations always weighed heavily on him. She was right, he couldn't understand, he was an only child after all. However the truth was that the kids' relationship isn't _really_ what bothered him, it was that, in the way the two interacted, he felt like he _had_ experienced something like what they had. He couldn't quite put his finger on why that was, and whenever he would try he would get a piercing migraine and his vision would start to blur until he thought of something, _anything_ else. All he knew was he was both envious of the relationship his children had but he also inherently knew that it could become unhealthy if no one intervened.

They pulled up in front of the house. It was your typical cookie-cutter, white picket fence, neighborhood. Dean didn't care for such things but it made Lisa happy and the children had plenty of neighborhood friends to play with. Lisa's car was in the driveway next to the van he was _supposed_ to use to pick up the kids. From the back seat he heard a tiny female voice grunt, "told ya so".

As they walked in the door Dean's heart began to race. Lisa was waiting for them arms crossed but she had a wry smile on her face. Dean knew she was upset but as Ben and Anna leapt to her for a hug she relaxed a bit. She began to reprimand Dean but he interrupted her, "Look how happy they are Lisa, how can I not every once in awhile. Besides that passenger seat is awfully empty ever since you decided that your 2013 Camaro was cooler than a '67 Chevy," he scoffed thinking he had won this one. But Lisa's expression tightened and he glanced at his children, Ben had his face in his hands as he giggled and Anna shook her head in disappointment.

"What'd I say?"

"You had Ben in the passenger seat?!" she screamed.

Oops. "I... uh... well... it was only for the mile between the schools, besides you know how well I take care of my baby," he said, "Uh and my real babies" he included, smiling his shit-eating grin so she knew he wasn't serious. She softened and gave him a playful smack on the shoulder. "If you do it again, I'm hiding the keys for a month, see how your precious baby likes that!" she chided.

"Pssh, I'll just hotwire it," he responded.

"Oh please, like you know how to do that, or should I start calling you Vin Diesel," Lisa laughed.

For a second though, Dean thought he _did_ know how, but he immediately got a sharp pain in his head. At that moment a pot fell off the counter with a loud bang, breaking his concentration and his head cleared. The whole family jumped at the sound and laughed.

Lisa began walking up the stairs, "By the way, your parents are coming over for dinner, I'm going to go get ready, if you can keep an eye on the roast in the oven I'd appreciate it!"

Once she was out of earshot he looks at his kids. They both start laughing hysterically.

"What?" he laughs.

"Real smooth Dad," Anna responded.

Dean does his best to replicate Anna's sass saying, "Don't you have homework you should be doing". Both children grumble and head to the kitchen table.

Dean opens the oven and taste tests the roast Lisa had started. She's an okay cook and Dean would never say otherwise, but he regularly samples her food out of eyesight and adds ingredients to make it more to his liking. Who makes a roast without onions, he thinks adding some onion powder knowing a real onion would be better but of course then Lisa would notice.

He is incredibly excited to have his parents over, it feels like it's been years since he saw them last, when really it had only been a week or so. He straightens up the kitchen trying to keep a handle on his anticipation. What is going on, he thinks, but his train of thought is interrupted when he cuts his finger on a nearby knife. "Son of a bitch!" he shouts. The kids giggle and Lisa yells from upstairs, "Hey! Language! Your still not out of the dog house from earlier, I'd watch it if I were you." He mutters an apology to no one in particular and examines his finger. Doesn't need stitches, he thinks, but how does he know that? The cut burns and he wraps it in a paper towel. Lisa comes down to check on him and reaches for his hand, "I'm fine, its fine," he mutters pulling away. "Don't be such a baby!" she laughs and hands him a band-aid and some first aid cream.

The doorbell rings and Dean has to consciously stop himself from running to answer it but in his attempt to confine his emotion he feels like he looks like he's applying for the ministry of silly walks. No one seems to notice though and he opens the door and greets his parents. Before they can even walk through the door he grabs his mom and gives her a hug. Mary gasps, "Hey Dean, watch it I almost dropped the pie." He pulls back and more calmly shakes his dad's hand.

The children had cleaned and set the table and Lisa was just placing the roast in the center. Dean felt a surge of warmth through his chest. There was nothing he loved more than a family get together.

The six sat down and said grace. Throughout dinner Anna recounted her entire day to her grandparents. She even sang a song she had learned in music class that day. Ben seemed to beam with pride at his younger sister's talent.

After dinner, Mary, Lisa, and the kids began to clear the table and prepare it for dessert. John and Dean headed out the backdoor. It was a tradition, ever since Dean was 17, father and son would sit on the back porch, share a beer, and talk. John pulled out a rickety old portable radio, the same one they had used 17 years earlier, and tuned it to a classic rock station. Prior to having children this was the thing Dean looked most forward to every day. Now he can't wait until Ben is "old" enough to share this tradition with him as well.

"What did you just do to my brother!" Sam yells, eyes tensed and choking back a sob as he stares at the blackened shadow on the ground where his brother once stood.

"Hmm well, there is an angel tablet, a demon tablet, a leviathan tablet, did it never cross your mind that there was also a human tablet?" Bartholomew laughs, "It's amazing how very specific this human banishing spell is. Being able to separate you two is key to our success in winning this war."

"How did you manage to read the tablet, I know there is only one prophet and I know for a fact that you don't have access to him right now," Cas grunts trying to support the weight of Sam who is clearly going though shock at once again losing his brother.

"It helps when you have the scribe who wrote it at your disposal," he smiles, "And don't worry about Dean, he is much happier where he is than he ever was with you Sam"

"Ezekiel, run!" Cas yells. Sam's eyes flash blue and the hunter disappears. Cas had drawn the angel banishing sigil in the ashes where Dean once stood with his foot taking a chance that there was enough of his blood left to make it work. Once Sam is gone he smashes his hand on it and Bartholomew and his team of angels disappear in a flash of white light.

Castiel prays, "It's alright Ezekiel I need you to come back now." The air stirs and Ezekiel appears.

"How did you know? Dean wasn't supposed to tell you," Ezekiel asks.

"I know Dean better than anyone other than Sam, and you are my brother, you cannot hide from me just because I'm no longer an angel," Cas replies, "Now I hope you didn't use what was left of your juice because we're going on a road trip and I'm going to need Sam."


End file.
